A blog by Luke Akehurst about politics, elections, and the Labour Party - With subtitles for the Hard of Left.
Just for the record: all the views expressed here are entirely personal and do not necessarily represent the positions of any organisations I am a member of.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

The public gives its verdict on McDonnell not getting nominated

Today's ICM poll in the Guardian - first one since it became clear Brown would get the leadership uncontested:

"Labour's high profile has pushed its rating to 32%. That is up two points on last month and equal to its score at the end of 2006. The Conservatives - under pressure over grammar schools and Labour's handover - have fallen three points, to 34%, well below recent highs in Guardian/ICM polls. The Conservatives last scored as low as 34% in April 2006."

10 Comments:

duncan said...

I sometimes forget what a git you are!

Apart from anything else, this post is completely illogical, as you have no idea what heights we might have reached given the even higher profile of a proper contest and debate, nor whether we would have continued rising for the full duration of the campaign (nobody's bothered about Gordon's solo tour any more, and people clearly weren't put off by what they did see of the debate in the last couple of weeks).

So I'd argue that your poll shows that the party nationally would have benefitted enormously from John McDonnell getting on the ballot paper.

Just the point I was about to make....isn't Brown 8 points behind Cameron or something similar on personal votes.Your "headline" bears no relation to the posting.Pathetic.Our CLP resolution on lowering the threshold to 7.5 per cent now in post and on its way .....You won't be quite so smug come the next general election.

If anyone technically forced him out, it was a Brownite coterie led by Tom Watson. Tragically, the left had nothing to do with it.

And actually you're wrong. Indeed, Blair's resignation triggered an increase in the vote for Labour. Most of the population wanted him to resign. All this means that: a) a lot of people who are natural Labour supporters are relieved he's gone and are now more committed to voting for their traditional paty; b) but when they're presented with the fact that Brown is taking over, they become less enthusiastic.

Sham - what would you imagine somebody on the left would take from a look at those figures? That (at the moment) Brown appears to be even less popular than Blair? Even when compared with a coked-up, public-school twit?

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About Me

Labour Party activist since 1988 - firmly on the moderate wing of the party. Member of Labour’s NEC 2010-2012. National Secretary of Labour Students 1995-6. Parliamentary candidate for Aldershot (2001) and Castle Point (2005). Hackney Councillor (Chatham Ward) 2002-2014, Labour Group Chief Whip 2002-09, Chair of Health Scrutiny 2010-2014. Supporter of Europe, NATO/nuclear deterrence, Israel, electoral reform. Guardian reader. Dad. Oxford resident. Unite union member. Employment history as a Labour Party Organiser, Local Government Political Assistant, Director at a Public Affairs company. All views expressed in a personal capacity. The rest will become evident from reading the blog.